BECOME A SOUTH FORK RIVER GUARDIAN
“What was big was not the trout, but the chance. What was full was not my creel, but my memory.”
~ Aldo Leopold
Join the South Fork River Community
The South Fork of the Snake River is a trout heaven unlike any other in the West, flowing from broad valley through deep basalt canyon, beneath cottonwood galleries, into a sea of fertile farmland.
Become a River Guardian and join other heroes supporting constructive relationships and sound science as the best means to conserve the South Fork so the thrilling experiences we enjoy today will endure for our children and grandchildren.
Sponsor a Vital River Reach
(sections bolded are already sponsored)
1 - Palisades Dam
2 - Husky
3 - Slide
4 - Bitton Channel to Fall Creek
5 - Bitton Channel to Spring Creek
6 - Fall Creek Falls
7 - Spring Creek Bridge
8 - Conant
9 - Pine Creek
10 - Eagle
11 - Cottonwood
12 - Wolf Flats
13 - Byington
14 - Heise
15 - Twin Bridges
16 - Lorenzo
17 - Menan
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Shane and Lorre Fleming
Ron and Mary Miller
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Collaboration and Results
The South Fork Initiative funnels local energy and pride into action and results. In swifter and shaded streams, deep holes now teem with trout where landowners have welcomed habitat restoration projects. Students plant willows and build fences on reshaped channels, transforming warm and lifeless stretches into colder, more productive nurseries for juvenile trout.
The Initiative also tracks water quality and aquatic insect populations. As this body of long-term data grows, it will inform and empower steps that river managers and users can take to benefit the river and everyone who values and depends upon it. ​​
Your Impact
Local leaders of the South Fork Initiative speak directly to you on the following pages. They hope you will consider joining them as South Fork Guardians. With your commitment, the South Fork Initiative will have a direct, significant, and lasting impact by:
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Giving the river a stronger voice and advocate.
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Restoring more miles of streams to improve fish habitat.
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Reducing water temperatures in these juvenile trout nurseries.
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Removing barriers to fish passage on tributary creeks.
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Providing anglers with information on water temperatures and turbidity to help them plan their fishing day.
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Tracking aquatic insect populations to assure their continuity.
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Connecting students to their local river through hands-on restoration projects.
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Help us build a healthy future for the South Fork!
Meet Some of Our South Fork River Guardians
"Let's Do This!"
Shane Fleming, South Fork River Guardian (pictured left)
Fleming says his decision to support the South Fork Initiative as a South Fork Guardian is rooted in what has been accomplished on the Henry’s Fork over the past four decades. Water managers and users have been willing to adjust flows and implement water conservation measures to benefit wild trout when reliable science has demonstrated that their own interests will not be compromised. Fleming believes the South Fork has a golden opportunity to accumulate the same kinds of long-term data to motivate constructive changes on the South Fork so like the Henry’s Fork, it will be healthier for trout and wildlife and future generations.
“The South Fork Initiative is putting stream sections back into conditions that settlers found,” Fleming says, “helping landowners conserve precious water and revitalizing nurseries for native cutthroats. We’re getting flows up, temperatures down, narrowing and deepening creeks and putting the old serpentine structure back in.” Read more from Shane Fleming.
The Power of Relationships
Ron Miller, South Fork River Guardian (pictured right)
A retired physician in his mid-70s, Miller lives in Swan Valley. He believes relationships grounded in respect and trust are essential to maintaining and improving the health of the South Fork, a branch of the Upper Snake River vital to farmers and ranchers, small communities and anglers, and water and electricity users far downstream. It haunts Miller that the river he grew up on in a small Nebraska farm town is no longer the fish-bearing water of his childhood.
“This is what we’re replicating and it’s setting the stage to make the South Fork healthier and more resilient. Shane and I are delighted you are reading this. We ask you to consider joining us. We need more South Fork Guardians. Together, we can improve the fishing experiences that thrill and renew us and ensure this great river endures for our grandchildren.” Read more from Ron Miller.